When the curtain drops
by schak
Summary: A new audition, a new movie. An old Yakuza love story shall be adopted as a movie. But if you play someone, who always lures in the shadows of society you may stumble across a secret or two.
1. Chapter 1

She was finally here. Kyoko couldn't believe it herself. This was her first movie premiere. She felt light headed and a laughter of relieve bubbled up in her throat, but she just smiled widely. The mild September evening was alight with the flashes of cameras. The paparazzi shouted at her to pose and smile for them. The all blurred into one big mass of people holding their cameras in front of their faces. They looked a bit like some strange one eyed aliens. A short giggle escaped her lips at that thought. In awe Kyoko looked around her. Everything was so shiny and sparkling here. If it weren't for all the people, she was sure; some mishit fairies would love to play here. She felt a bit like a fairy herself in her dress. It was a light silvery-grey dress made out of thin layers of transparent silk that ended around a hand over her knees in the front, but fell to the floor in the back. It was light and fluttery and the heart shaped neckline was decorated with many glittering white and grey gems. With a smile she remembered how she the day she chose it together with her best friend a week ago.

X

Kyoko didn't realize until that moment that she started to become known to the public. She always thought of herself as unremarkable and too normal for anyone to notice her. But here she was smiling with these two teenage girls who begged her for a selfie together. She felt awkward, but faltered at the same time.

"Thank you so much! It's so great to meet you. Nobody would believe us, if we say we meet you just here." Teenage1 told her excitedly. Her friend stood next to her bushing madly. Kyoko couldn't say if it was because of meeting her or because she was embarrassed about her friend blabbering on nonstop for at least five minutes. "I mean I can't even believe that we meet you here at a bike rake like this. I mean, aren't stars always driving around in limousines or something?"

It felt strange to stand here with two girls she didn't know, they could have at least introduced themselves (or maybe T1 did, but Kyoko was to shocked from being jumped by them to registered it), and take photos with them. "You know Tokyo is a megacity and like in most megacities the fastest and most comfortable way to get from A to B is with the bike." She replied while scratching the back of her head.

"EHH!" T1 let go of a high pitched squish as an answer, that made Kyoko's ears ring for a couple of seconds. "You're so down to earth and COOL! We will totally see your movie when it comes out!" She grabbed one of Kyoko's hands and promised her with a sincere look on her face.

"Eh, thank you very much. I hope you will enjoy it." Kyoko didn't know what to say and tried to smile on. Her eyes darted to her watch. "I would love to talk more, but I have a meeting in a few minutes…" She really hoped they would get the hint without needing to send them away.

"Ah, of course a star like you probably never as any free time and the little you have you even spent on us." T1 swooned over her in excitement, grabbing onto her shy and blushing friend. "We will leave you to your business. Good bye and thank you so much!" She pulled her poor friend like a rake doll behind her as she ran off.

Kyoko waved after them and signed in relieve once there were out of sight. Now, that had been strange. If superstars like Tsuruga-san have to deal with this all the time? She looked at her watch once more, before panicking. "Wah! It's this late already?! Moko-san is waiting for me!" She kickstarted into a full run the three blocks to the café, they had agreed to meet at. She abruptly stopped at the table with her best friend, making her jump in shock. Gasping for air she explained her, what happened. "I'm so sorry! I was on my way here, when those two girls showed up and they asked me for a photo and I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to be rude and talked with them and then a saw that I'm already late!" Tears streamed down her face as she bowed down to her friend.

"It's alright. Now stop crying. It ruins your makeup and image!" Kanae forcefully trusted a handkerchief into her hand awkwardly petted her shoulder. "Now sit down already; it's embarrassing, mo." She harshly ordered her fellow actress with a deep red blush on her face. "Next time put on sunglasses or something."

"You are such a good friend." Kyoko gratefully took the offered handkerchief to dry her tears and sat down with a brilliant smile. "You are the best friend anyone could wish for." This caused Kanae to turn her head away and to bite her lips with a troubled face, but didn't reply anything to it.

"Well, nevertheless we have something to do today. We have to get some dresses, right. I have a contract with Lovicheé to wear one out of their new collection at our premiere. They know at the store that I'll show up there today. What about you? Do you have any contract?" Kanae looked down on her mobile phone to check the route to some stores. She looked beautiful as she stroked some of her long elegant hair out of her face. Kyoko stared in awe and envy at the casual beauty and grace her friend radiated. By the passing waitress they both ordered green tea.

"I don't have any contract. I'm completely free to choose whatever I want… It's not like I'm that good looking that people pay me to wear their dresses." She signed dejected and with a depressed look in her eyes.

"Oh, snap out of it. Drink your tea and think where you want to go. Do you have a budget limit?" Her best friend reprimanded her gruffly.

This question made Kyoko uncomfortable and she nervously shifted in her seat. "Not really." This earned her a raised eyebrow. "Takahashi-sama said, I should choose something and they would pay for everything." The young girl avoided eye contact with her friend as she said this.

"Hmpf. You know, you should harvest the opportunity to have such a powerful sponsor like Takahashi-sama more. Others would die to be in your position." A twinkle of jealousy lashed Kanae's voice as she advised the other girl.

"Well, do you want to go to your store first? I can look around there too if I see something, right?" Kyoko obvious changed the subject to avoid discussing this topic. The other girl looked very displeased with this behavior and stared Kyoko down for some time screwing up her face, before giving up.

"We can, but I'm not sure if they have something that would suit your style. But there are a couple of other stores that we can look for something." She reassured Kyoko with the last sentence because of the dejected look on her face. Kyoko smiled in return, but before more could be said about this, the waitress arrived with their tea and their conversation shifted to other topics until they decided to leave the café.

It took them twenty minutes to find the Lovicheé store, because they took a wrong turn once. When they finally arrived at the posh store, they were greeted by a too thin to be healthy shop assistant, who mustered them with a disdainful look on her face. This look changed immediately as Kanae introduced herself and Meiko, she not only told them her name, but that she is a model herself, became the most helpful person you could imagine. While she showed Kanae the changing room, Kyoko looked around the store a bit. It created a welcoming atmosphere with soft light and quiet western pop music. The whole ambience was designed to appear western and cosmopolitan; paintings of international landmarks, the magazines where in Japanese and English. The clothes itself was made out of fine materials and dad the grace to be without prize tags. The dresses for Kanae weren't in the store yet. The collection would be available for the public a week after the premiere.

Apparently Meiko was satisfied with the first three dresses Kanae should put on and herded Kyoko to a small coffee table in front of the dressing room. The stylish chairs were surprisingly comfortable; somebody had the mind not to substitute function for design. The shop assistant slipped in and out of the dressing room once more to help Kanae with her dress. After a few moments the beautiful and tall actress stepped out to show of the dress.

"It's um…" Kyoko searched for the right words to describe the dress. It was in a rich turquoise color and left quite a bit uncovered. The material was wrapped around her chest and two ribbons crossed over her flat belly forming a bow in the middle, that was decorated with a cute butterfly brooch. They continued to tightly wrap around her butt again. It leaved a triangle under her chest and around her navel open. The sides widened to a nearly completely open back, only the wrapping around her chest and a thin chain out of filigree butterflies down to her butt obscured the view.

"Glorious sexy. Chin chin!", finished Meiko her sentence cheerfully as she passed a glass with champagne to each of them. Both actresses looked uncomfortable at the glasses, they were both too young to drink alcohol, but took a careful slip anyway.

"I think I would like to try on some more dresses." Even the normally so confident Kanae appeared nervous in this dress, fingering with the fabric of the dress to cover some more of herself.

"Oh, but of course." Meiko hushed her back into the changing room. This whole process repeated a couple of times. They got more relaxed after a while, maybe because they got more used to the revealing dresses, or because they each drank nearly two glasses of champagne. They giggled over some stupid joke and Kanae changed her dress once more.

The next time she stepped out, Kyoko's breath hitched in awe. It dark forest green dress hugged her friends curves perfectly with its mermaid fit. It for once hinted more than show. The skirt had a slit in the front allowing a peek at her long legs with each step. The neckline had a deep asymmetric cut that have a teasing hint at the soft swelling of her chest. This cut was covered with a transparent black cloth decorated with silver and black gems; the same that formed elegant flowers on the left side of her chest. Kanae looked like a femme fatal in this dress and downright glorious.

"That the one.", breathed Kyoko in a quiet voice. "It's perfect." Kanae mustered herself critically in the mirror before nodding to Meiko with a satisfied smile on her lips.

"Wonderful chose. I will fetch the right shoes for it. One moment." And off she was, only to return seconds later with beautiful black high heels. "Now it's perfect. Put on some jewelry and makeup and you could go out and bring any guy to his knees, I promise you that."

The dress needed to be slightly shortened and would be ready for her in time. While they looked around for a dress for Kyoko, they could find anything that would fit. The dresses were either to revealing or tried too hard to be cute. They played with big flowers or bows that would look overloaded and out of proportion on Kyoko's petite build. That was why they said good bye to Meiko and looked for other stores. After four hours Kyoko felt depressed. Kanae was a _very_ honest critic. Sometimes she just wordlessly waved her back into the changing booth; other times she verbally ripped the dresses Kyoko tried on apart

"You know, I could put on a potato bag and hide behind some of the better looking actors." Kyoko offered in defeat. Her feet hurt, she was hungry and she was dead tied.

"Stop talking rubbish. It can't be that no stupid store in Tokyo has the perfect dress for you. Something that flues the curiosity of the people, without making you look like a ten year old or slut… or a ten year old dressing up as a slut." Her best friend replied harshly. She feverous tripped something in her phone, probably the navigation to the next store.

"Don't say stuff like that!" Kyoko blushed a deep red at the other girl's crud word chose.

"What? It's true." She mumbled as an answer. "Ok, next one is one and an half kilometer from here."

Kyoko groaned at this order. "Could we maybe get some water first?" Only for a short moment it seemed like Kanae was ready to argue against it, but her own thirst or tiredness won over and she agreed. It turned out, that it was surprisingly difficult to find a store that just sold bottled water in the middle of the city. They had to cross through some smaller streets to find a little supermarket. On their way back Kyoko saw this tiny store sandwiched between a doctor's office and some second had book store. In the window were one dress and a couple of other clothes mixed together without any real concept apart from showing as many things as possible in the small space the window offered.

"Let's go inside, Moko-san." Kyoko didn't wait for an answer and dragged her friend with her. The store was on the inside as small as it appeared on the outside. Everything was stuffed with some kind of display for the clothes and there were even a couple of mannequin even wore clothes still in the making. That was where she saw it, her dress. It was displayed next to a punky shirt. Kyoko fell in love with it at first sight. She looked at Kanae with hopeful eyes. "Would it be great?"

The other actress knitted her nose, while she personal thought that to a premiere something more elegant would be fitting, she couldn't deny that the dress could look good on Kyoko and that it maybe would even give her a way to show the sweet and cute side of herself to the public opposite of the mostly dark roles she was known for. "Well, it could hurt right." They looked around for a changing booth but couldn't find one or an employee to ask. "This is ridiculous." Kanae complained vociferously, before shouting: "Hello?! Is there somebody, we would like to buy something!"

With her call she summoned a young woman from a nearly hidden door at the end of the store. The thick glasses gave her a bug like appearance. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you enter and I should, I mean I want to sell my stuff, right?" She blabbered an apology to them. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like to try this dress on, if that's ok? But we couldn't find a dressing room or anything." Kyoko pointed at the silvery dress with a shy smile.

"But of course!" The woman took the dress of its display. "Please follow me." She leaded them to door that she had appeared from only moments ago. "You can change in here, it's my atelier." Pride filled her voice as she opened the door. The room was slightly smaller than the sells room, but even more packed with things. On the desk laid dozens of sketches with clothes and next to it was a sewing machine. The shelves at the walls were filled with rolls of different cloth. There seemed to be a vague order of colors and materials to the chaos surrounding them. There were even more mannequins with half finished clothes on. "If you need help, just say so, ok?" With that she shooed Kyoko in and closed the door behind her.

Kyoko put the dress on and immediately liked the feeling in her body. She felt pretty and free in it. As she stepped out again Kanae surrounded her and mustered her critically from all angles. "Not bad." She nodded appreciatively.

The young woman clapped in delight and pulled out some floor-length mirrors behind some stuff. "You look so cute in it. That's how I imagined it." She let Kyoko turn a couple of times in front of the mirrors before stepping next to her and pull at the dress in a few places. She fixed some needles there with nimbly fingers. "A few stitches here and there and it will be perfect."

"I want it. When will you have it ready?" Kyoko's eyes shone with excitement as she watched her reflection spin in the mirror.

"If you pay for it now, tomorrow noon." The young woman replied, trying and failing not to sound too eager.

"Deal." Kyoko hurried back into the room where she had left her bag. She pulled out the credit card Takahashi had given her. This earned a raised eyebrow from Kanae, but she didn't comment on it.

X

One reporter stepped next to Kyoko, together with her camera man. On her microphone the letters TTv3 were written. "Hello. We are from fame&name and want to ask you a couple of questions for you." The reporter herself was in a long black dress.

"Sure, asked away." While Kyoko still felt nervous when giving an interview she covered it with a brilliant smile.

"This is your big premiere. Everybody waited for it. How does it feel to be finally here?" The reporter seemed friendly and good natured as she asked her question.

"Fantastic, I feel like I'm on cloud nine." The answer was accompanied with a small laughter.

"Ok, obligatory question: where did you get your beautiful dress?" The camera took a shoot of her whole body running it up and down.

"Oh, it's from a small local designer here in Tokyo. Her name is TaikiLaLa." Kyoko spun around for the camera.

"An underdog designer for the underdog movie. How fitting!" The reporter said half to her half to the camera.

* * *

A.N.: Ok this is my new story. I will take you with me on a little mystery chase. The story would be told linear, but will jump around like in this chapter. Actual I would like to know if somebody would like to be my beta for this story; not only for spelling and grammar issues, but to be somebody I could use to bounce ideas on and who would help me making sure there are no plot holes or the timelines get to confusing. If somebody is interested please tell me. To everybody else, I hope you enjoyed it and I would love it you leave a comment and help me improve.

Disclaimer: Skip Beat! Isn't mine. I don't make money with this.


	2. Chapter 2

Kanae watched Kyoko from afar. How she stepped out of the car, taking in everything in awe, smiling and posing for the paparazzi. With the dress they bought together she wore some light jewelries and discreet shimmering make up. She really looked like she stepped out of one of her fairy tales; you could nearly see the fairy godmother swirling around her. Kanae stopped at that thought. What was that? Are Kyoko fantasies contagious? What a freaky thought! She saw how the interviewers went up to Kyoko to ask her the same silly question she herself already had to answer. She wondered if Kyoko felt as surreal about everything like she does. It seemed to be an eternity ago that they went to the audition.

X

"You have to promise me, that we stay friends, no matter what happens in this audition! Promise me!" Kyoko begged her best friend with tears running down her eyes, holding on to her with a death grip. They were in the middle of a hallway in a studio building. Some people threw strange looks their way.

"Of course we will stay friends. Now stop being embarrassing!" With a blush she looked around, trying to shut Kyoko up. "We are in public!" She hissed at the other girl hanging on her leg.

"Thank you so much!" The previously split tears let Kyokos eyes shine and shimmer even more as she grateful beamed up to her, after she let go of Kanae's leg. The black haired beauty turned away from this disgusting happy expression, using her ling hair as a veil, but something pulled her back in.

They both had got the information about this audition separately. Kanae got her notice from Matsushima and Kyoko from Sawara. They don't know a lot about it, but the names involved sounded promising and the description asked for a girl to play a nineteen to twenty year old in a Yakuza setting. It wasn't a leading role, but one of the major supporting roles. They don't have any more information on the character, but apparently both managers thought that it would fit their representative image and skill set and sent them here. They met a few minutes before by chance and that's how their got in this situation.

"We will both do your best and then we see where it gets us, right Moko-san?" Kyoko's happy rainbow aura uncased Kanae completely.

"Of course, may the better one win!" In a rare act of affection Kanae hold out her hand to help Kyoko up to her feet again. "Now get yourself presentable. I don't want to win, because you show up with red puffing eyes." She ordered Kyoko around in a grumpy voice.

A small and soft smile fled over the younger girls lips. "Ok." Then she hugged Kanae fiercely, once she was standing again.

"Stop that!" She pushed her friend away and crossed her arms in front of her. "Go!" She shooed her in the directions of the nearest bathroom, still red in the face from embarrassment.

After a few minutes they both went to the right room to pick a number for the audition. They were told that this was just the first part of the audition and they would look at their reverences and overall image to make a first selection and that they should wait with the other girls. Around twenty other girls were already waiting and Kyoko seem a bit overwhelm and intimidated by this huge number of competition.

"So many pretty girls, why should they choose me?" She mumbled to herself in a low voice, but Kanae heard her nevertheless.

"Oh, shut up. To many of them you are one of the biggest rivals here. You have roles like Mio and Natsu under your belt and that could fit well with the Yakuza term of the role." Kanae replied in a biting tone.

They waited for around half an hour before it was their turn. Kanae was first in line and she confidently stepped into the room where three men between thirty and sixty were waiting. She gave them her portfolio and they asked some questions about it before they asked her to show some different emotions. It was easy enough and the way they nodded appreciative at her gave her a good feeling.

"We will keep your portfolio for now and are going to call your manager tomorrow with further information." The casting director told her this, as he leaded her to the door and called Kyoko in.

Kanae waited for maybe ten minutes before her friend reappeared with a smile and without her folder as well. It was probably like she thought that one look at Kyoko's record and they already decided to take her to the second phase. It wasn't that she thought that Kyoko didn't deserve it, but she felt a tiny sting of jealousy how good Kyoko became in such a short time.

"All done? Than we can go, right?"Kanae didn't wait for an answer and pulled her along to the exit. "I promised you we would eat dinner together and I would let you choose the place, otherwise it will be loaded with calories and that sh…" She stopped herself from cursing and pulled Kyoko with her, who skipped along her with a happy smile.

It took two days until Matsushima called her up to tell her the details of the recall. There would be a chemistry test with some of the confirmed actors and they want to see some flirting, club dancing and seducing for the role. Kanae grumbled to herself what kind of role it was. It sounded suspiciously like a whore or something. She stepped into the LoveMe room and was pretty sure Sawara had talked to Kyoko too and that she as well wasn't too happy with the description of the requirements of the role. Evidence for this was the cloud of despair that hung around her in the dark corner she hid in. She felt her stomach shrink as she watched Chiori trying to smoother Kyoko again, petting her back. She coughed slightly to alert the two girls about her presence in the room. Immediately Kyoko jumped up and ran into her arms, away from the newest LoveMe member. It made her feel satisfied and triumphal that Kyoko obvious preferred her comfort over that of the shorter girl's and for once she allowed her to hug her and even returned the gesture.

"Now, calm down. Is it about the audition?", she asked patiently, shooting a quick side look to Chiori to watch her reaction the this display of affection.

"Yes!" The girl in her arms bawled pitifully. "I don't know how to flirt or seduce anyone! They will laugh at me!" Both Chiori and Kanae raised an eyebrow in doubt, probably both imagining Natsu and her alluring ways of talking with friend and foe. Didn't she even realize that she flirted there or didn't she count it because it was with girls? The relation that she thought the same thing as Chiori made her feel irritated and bounded with her at the same time. It wasn't that Kanae really disliked the other actress. Whenever they had to work together just fine and often even share the same views on things, but as soon as Kyoko got in the picture she felt the irresistible urge to completive with her. She didn't even know if the tiny actress felt the same.

"It's not that difficult: you smile, you listen, you touch a little bit, stuff like that." Kanae finally pushed Kyoko an arm's length away as she explained the basics.

"Maybe for you, but you are beautiful! I don't know how to do it right and how would even want to be seduced by me?" Kyoko wailed in self pity. Kanae rolled her eyes; she could think of at least two guys from the top of her head who would give anything to have Kyoko flirt with them. Before she could really reply to her overdramatic friend, Chiori suggested an option.

"You know, we could do some research on it." Both Kyoko and Kanae turned around to look at their colleague with a stunt expression,

"What kind of research?" Kyoko asked her in confusion.

"I thought about going out and watch people and then we can discuss what they are doing and how we could use it in our acting."Chiori smiled widely at them. Kanae had to admit that the idea wasn't bad, but some more questions needed to be answered, before deciding anything.

"And where do you want to do that research?" Kanae raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Considering that this says something about club dancing, why not go exactly there?" Chiori studied a paper that Kyoko had dropped earlier. It probably contained the same information that Matsushima had give her in their meeting.

"But we are not old enough to get in a club…" Kyoko noted doubtful.

"Are we actresses or not?"

This somehow decided it. It was a Friday night and they met at Chiori's place to get ready. Her mother at beamed at them in relieve and happiness and made them snacks, but left them alone otherwise. Chiori blushed slightly at her mother's actions, but didn't say anything.

"Your mum is so nice." Kyoko remarked with a wishful smile. "So should first eat or change?" They had borrowed clothes from the LME storage and didn't want to ruin it, so they ate first and then put on clothes and make up. Kanae had to admit that it was fun to prime each others. They each were styled different. Chiori was cute, Kyoko punky-cheeky and Kanae sexy. After two hours of preparation they were on the way to a club. Kanae had asked her brothers were they could go and the idiots had tort up and were all happy that she 'starts to act like a normal teenager, going out with her friends, but don't drink too much, we will pick you up when you want to go home'. They said that it was a good and clean club that didn't look to close at the age of their costumers if they didn't cause trouble. The prizes were low but the drinks good. They had to wait for half an hour before getting in and they could hear the music on the street. It was mostly modern pop and dance music from Japan and international. Once they were inside it didn't take long for some guy to come over.

"What do three lovely ladies like you do, here all alone?" Their breath stank from the alcohol they had consumed and leaned far too close for comfort.

"Trying to have fun and that obvious means staying away from you." Kanae looked at them with disgust and forcefully removed the arm one of them had swung around Kyoko, who tried to wiggle free. Her cold eyes and harsh tone let them take a step back and she took the opportunity to pull the other two girls with her. "Creeps."

They were left alone by those guys, but from time to time other guys come over to start a conversation or offer them drinks. They were all shoot down by Kanae within seconds. Chiori giggled: "Maybe you need help with flirting too?" She had her second cocktail in her hands.

"We are not here to flirt myself, but to watch." She replied grumpily, while watching out for Kyoko who had went to the bathroom. She finally saw her and some guy was talking to her. Kanae rolled her blue eyes and kicked herself away from the wall to go over.

"Hey where are you going?" Chiori caught up to her, pressing herself through the people next to her.

"Getting that naïve idiot back." She was nearly there when she called out over the music. "Mo! Kyoko what takes so long?" Kanae 'accidently' stepped between her best friend and 'some guy'.

"Moko-san!" She greeted her again happily. "This is Keizo-san. We go to the same school, but not in the same class. We were talking about some teachers and the school festival in the summer." Kyoko cheerfully introduced 'some guy'. Kanae was least than impressed and mustered him dismissively with crossed arms.

"Nice to meet you, _Kenzo-san_." Her tone didn't match her words and she spat out his name in distaste. "Are you here on your own?"

"N-no, ma'm..ehm Moko-san- SAMA!" He stuttered under her icy stare. "I'm here with a couple of friends." He took a step back.

"Oh, of course, I don't want to keep you from them. Tell them 'hi' from me." Kyoko waved him off with a bright happy smile. He let his shoulder sack in defeat and went off.

Chiori had watched the whole exchange with a wide grin. "Oh, don't be like that. She just wants to get some hands on experience in flirting, right Kyoko-san."

"Huh? Flirting" Kyoko leaned her head to the side and knitted her eyebrows. "We weren't flirting."

Kanae could only groan in frustration and massage the bright of her nose, as Chiori burst into loud laughter. "Of course he was! Nobody wants to talk about school here. It was just a topic to start a conversation with you." The tiny actress informed Kyoko, who turned a scarlet red at once.

"Enough of this. Let's find a place to watch the people." Kanae ordered them and stopped any further discussion about that topic.

They found one near a pillar, where they could see the bar and the dance floor, as well as the more quite area near the wall. Kanae looked around for anything interesting to point out. She saw a couple who were dancing together and turned to tell the other two about them. She blinked a few times.

"'Kyoko, is that a notebook in your hands?" She asked in disbelieve.

The redhead bushed prettily and answered: "Well, I thought I could take some notes to remember everything tomorrow, so that we can talk about it when we don't have to scream against the music." That didn't sound like a bad idea at all; apparently Chiori was a step ahead of both of them and had her phone out to film some people.

"Now I feel like a creep…" Kanae grumbled to herself, but pulled out her phone as well. They spent some time like this; pointing at people, filming them and watching very closely how they move and act.

"You know, I'm sure it said something about dancing as well, right? So let's have bit fun." Chiori claimed and tried to drag them to the dance floor.

"Not with that song." Kyoko replied in distaste. Kanae recognized it as a Sho Fuwa song and could understand Kyoko's resistance against it.

Chiori hesitated for a second and listened. "Are you as sick as me to always hear the same voice over and over again?" It was obvious that she didn't know the real reason for Kyoko's rejection to the song and it made Kanae feel smug about it.

"You have no idea how sick I'm off that voice." Kyoko mumbled back.

Luckily the song ended soon and some female international singer started to play and they willingly followed Chiori to the dance floor. At first they all felt pretty awkward, but with time they slightly relaxed. That was when Kanae saw another shocking talent of Kyoko. The other girl watched the girls around her and started to copy the move of them in an astonishing speed. Some girl close to them noticed and began a kind of game with Kyoko, by demonstrating a few moves and watched Kyoko repeat them. In no time Kyoko moved her petite body in a sensual way that it let Kanae's mouth dry and she had to lick her lips. Something that Kyoko saw and copied as well, but with the way she rotated her hips and let body wave with the music, it was so much more alluring. It left her lips wet and shine and the wink she gave Kanae, made her skin heat up. Kyoko turned back to her dancing companion and they slowly went down together what made Kyoko's butt so much more prominent and appealing. They gently caressed each other before placing their hands on the others hips, like this they came up again, smiling brightly and laughing together. The song slowly came to an end and Kanae was pretty relieved about it. This was ridiculous; she should take Kyoko out of here, before she starts to do stupid stuff or something. With the last dying beats of the song, something happened. The other girl leaned closer and kissed Kyoko on the lips. Gentle she stroked over Kyoko's cheek and placed her hand at her jaw line. Kanae's mouth dropped open in shock and she felt the urge to push that girl away from Kyoko, but her body was immobilized by what happened in front of her. Kanae could say how long this kiss went on, but definitely longer than it should. Not that it should have happened in the first place. The girl ended the kiss and whispered something that Kanae couldn't understand, placing a small card into Kyoko's hands and returned to her group again.

Kyoko stood there and watched her leave in shock, carefully touching her lips. After a few seconds she turned around and looked at Kanae and Chiori with wide eyes. Her lip gloss on her plum lips shimmered darker where it was mingled with the other girls red lip stick. Chiori laughed at her shocked look.

"We can note down; you now know how to flirt!" That those words Kyoko blushed and stuttered an incomprehensible answer.

"That's it. We go home. I'm calling my brother!" Kanae declared and pushed Kyoko and Chiori to the exit.

X

Whenever Kanae remembered this night she still felt her skin heat up a bit. She looked over to Kyoko and saw her wave to her. She smiled back and thought that Kyoko looked a lot more relaxed than the past couple of months. She had missed the carefree and naïve girl from back then a bit.

* * *

A.N. So, that is my second chapter. Before anyone asked; yes Ren will be in the story as well, but I wanted to eatable the other two LoveMe girls as part of this story. I thought about sending Kyoko to Ren to learn how to flirt, but I feel like we have seen it so often in fanfiction that I wanted to take a different route. Like you see here, I will change the point of view between chapters, so you wouldn't see everyone's thoughts and emotions one scene at a time. Please leave a review if you liked it or if you see something I could improve. If anyone wants to be my beta and help me with this story, please let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

He was intentionally a bit late, not to late mind you, but late enough that he would not have to answer any questions. Ren looked one last time in the mirror to straighten his tie and left the car. He was a bit sad that he wouldn't see Kyoko on the red carpet, but he hoped to get some glimmers of her in the lobby before the film starts. He put on a pleasant smile and posed for the cameras a bit, but ignored the questions they threw in his way. The flashlights blended him slightly, but he never let his discomfort be seen on his face. Yashiro made a quick tweet where he got his suit and waited for him at the entrance to the cinema. His manager shot him an encouraging smile and opened to door for him.

The moment he stepped through the door, his smile dropped a little bit. He looked around the room, hoping for a glimpse of red hair. The room was packed with people in their evening gown, drinking and eating finger food. He heard some modern Jazz/Swing mix and saw a little stage, where a band played. A couple of familiar faces scattered through the room, but no Kyoko yet. Not all of those people here belong to the entertainment business, but Ren didn't doubt that they were important in their own right. Not even a few steps in and somebody offered him something to drink. He could choose between champagne, sake and whisky. The last choice actual surprised him, because it wasn't standard at all, but he suspected that it was to create a fitting mode for the movie. He chose a whisky glass and took a slip. It had a rich and multifaceted flavor. With all this talk about this being the underdog movie, people tended to forget that this movie had some very powerful backers; maybe more powerful than Ren would like to be so close to Kyoko.

He finally saw Kyoko out of the side of his eyes; she was talking to some old folks that seemed to think it was ok to pet her hands and arms. She kept on smiling, but excused herself from the group with a polite bow to greet Kotonami.

That it came to this seem so absurd from time to time. He would have never imagined that it would lead to all this when he accepted the role of Takeshi and sometimes he asked himself it was worth it.

X

It was a late afternoon or early evening, when Ren stepped into the LME building. Yashiro had to drop some paperwork and he 'hinted' that maybe Ren could wait for him near the LoveMe room. While Ren hated how the other man shamelessly butted into his love life, he couldn't resist the chance to see Kyoko in person. It didn't take long to reach the LoveMe room and he took a breath to clam himself down. He ran his hand through his hair and straightened his shirt. Only a moment before he knocked on the door, he heard Kyoko's screech.

"WHAT?! You filmed that?! Chiori-san, how could you?!" Kyoko sounded panicked and embarrassed about something.

He could hear another girl giggle. "Of course I filmed it, so we can now analyze it."

"Delete it, delete it, delete it!" Kyoko's voice became louder and shriller with each time she repeated herself. Curiosity leaded Ren to knock, which seemed to cause some panic on the other side of the door, but one voice, not Kyoko's, answered.

"Come in."

He hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open. Inside he saw Kyoko and her two LoveMe friends. Behind them was a laptop, which showed Kyoko in same hot pants and a close fitting shirt with the Cheshire cat glowing on it and she was dancing with some unknown girl, not that Ren paid much attention to her; his eyes were fixed on Kyoko. She did some small movements that let her breasts jiggle. The real life Kyoko looked completely flushed.

"Tsuruga-san, welcome. What can we do for you?" Her normal bow was cut short by her restlessness. She looked behind her to the laptop and her voice was a pitch higher than normal. Her attention was obvious more on the video than him. In this case, it was probably for the best for him, because she missed how difficult it was for him to not stare at it openly. He did stare, but not completely openly, he hoped.

"Hello Mogami-san." He shone a warm smile at her; it took him nearly two or three seconds to remember the other two girls in the room. He forced his eyes away from the flushed girl and once more from her dancing image on the screen behind her. "Kotonami-san, Amamiya-san." He nodded to them. "What are you doing?"

His eyes flickered back to the laptop. The other girl had her hands on Kyoko's hips swaying them back and forth, apparently teaching her how to move them. Kyoko followed his line of sight and blushed even more. Fanatically she turned around and tried to shut down the video. Unfortunate or fortunate, depending on who you asked, she maximized the video with her uncoordinated clicking. A panicked squeeze escaped her lips. Kyoko slowly rotated her hips and lowered herself into a crouch. Hectically she moved the curser around the screen, before shutting the laptop close. Ren could still hear the club music from it, which let him know, yes, the video continued and no, he wasn't able to see the rest of it, but at least it got a lot easier to keep his attention on just the real Kyoko. He raised an eyebrow in question. Kyoko was still blushing madly, but started to mumble an explanation for the video.

"Well, you see… We, that means Moko-san and me. We have an audition and there we have to know how to flirt and dance and stuff and because of that, we went out to a club. Even if we shouldn't, because we are not twenty, but we were careful and we did drink anything." She shot a look in Amamiya's direction. "And we wanted to watch people to learn a bit more… and yeah…" Her voice was a bit unclear and he didn't understand everything, but he got the general idea.

"Looks very fine to me." The words were out of his mouth before he could think about them. He didn't think that it was possible, but Kyoko blushed even harder. "Is this audition for a Yakuza movie, by any chance?"

"How do you know that? Can you know read minds?" Kyoko looked positive scandalized at the thought and a curious little voice in Ren's head asked what kind of thoughts she had that caused such a reaction.

"No." He laughed. "But I'm part of it and had a meeting with the producers today and they had your and Kotonami-san's picture on their white board." This sentence caused two things. First that Kyoko calmed down and second that Kotonami groaned loudly.

"Tough luck." The newest LoveMe member mumbled to Kyoko's best friend. Kyoko tilted her head to the side and an adorable expression of confusion settled on her face. Before she could asked the other two girls about their exchange, Ren asked about the thing that was still most prominent on his mind.

"And why did you have a video of this club evening." A video, that Kyoko wouldn't let him see completely. Immediately the previous blush returned full force onto Kyoko's face. She opened her mouth, but nothing even close to words was heard. She was put out of her misery by her best friend.

"We wanted to analyze what we saw when we don't have to scream every word." Kotonami crossed her arms in front of her and mustered him dismissively. He didn't know why the girl had a problem with him, but if he learned one thing about women in his life, it was that you don't want the best friend to hate you. He tried to placate her with a pleasant smile, but it only deepens the scowl on her face. He tried a different tactic.

"Maybe I can help? I have some free time right now and I could offer you a male perspective on things."

"NOOOOOO!" Kyoko screamed at his offer, placing herself between the laptop and him as a human shield. He blinked at her in stunned silence. She registered the awkward mood in the room and blushed cutely. "Ehm, that would be unfair to the other competitors for the role to asked for your advice." She mumbled, as she grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out of the door. While he would normally gladly take any physical contact that Kyoko initiate on her own, right now it only spikes his interest in the video she didn't want him to see. "Thank you for your offer, but we will have to decline ", with that she closed the door behind him. A few seconds later he could hear the other girls snigger on the other side of it, but before he could knock again to demand answers, Yashiro showed up to.

"Everything ok, Ren?"

"I'm not sure…" Ren shook his head. "Let's go."

The day ended relatively early for Ren. At seven o'clock he was able to get back home. The last interview had been a bit stressful, because the young woman that interviewed him was less interested in promoting his new movie and more in promoting herself to him. Before he took these obvious advances with a smile; a couple of times he even thought about taking them up on the offer, but in the end he had always declined them politely. Now he was stupid in love with Kyoko and an even stupider part of him felt as he would cheat on her if he even let those women flirt with him. It didn't make sense, he wasn't even dating Kyoko and he wasn't the one that flirted, but his heart rebelled against the way this woman had touched his arm. He poured himself a Bourbon and sat down on his couch. He swung his legs on top of the small table in front of him and his head fell back against the backrest. What had Kyoko done with him? Here he was, wallowing in self-pity, because a beautiful woman had flirted with him, but not the right one. A voice inside his head that sounded a lot like Kyoko reminded him that he should probably eat something. He couldn't say when his voice switched from his mother to Kyoko, but it actual did help his eating habits. Even if it was only as a voice in his mind, he wanted to please her. But not right now. With a bittersweet smile he mockingly toasted to the ceiling.

"If you want me to eat, come here and make me." A hint of childish defiance was swinging in his voice. He emptied his glass in one swing.

A moment later he heard a knock on the door. He chased a short sideway look to his glass and giggled about his own wishful thinking. Last week he had a memo on his letterbox that they would need to control the heaters in the building. He grumbled to himself as he got up and asked himself why they can't do that, when he wasn't home. He opened the door and was pleasant surprised that his drinking toast actual was able to summon up the girl of his daydreams.

"I should try that more often." He mumbled under his breath, still a bit in shock.

As soon as he opened the door she bowed to him and her orange hair fell in front of her face, but he could see how her ears turned slightly pink. "Please excuse me for disturbing you so late. It's just that I need to apologize for my rude behavior earlier and thought I maybe could cook dinner for you. Of course, only if you want and haven't eaten yet." She ended in muttering.

"No I haven't eaten yet and I would be happy to have dinner with you. Please come in." Warmth spread through him, seeing her at his front door. Nothing in the world could stop him from smiling (probably like an idiot) at her. She was just too cute for her own good. She looked up to him and immediacy looked down again, but he didn't mind, because he could see her blush at his smile. When she stepped through the door, he plucked the grocery bag from her arms.

"Thank you very much." Kyoko slipped into her guest shoes. Yes, hers. He had three pairs of guest slippers in his home; one for Yashiro or other guests, one for the unlikely case that he has to entertain Yashiro and another guest in his home and one pair only for Kyoko. It wasn't that she was around that much, that she really needed one. It was more a combination of the fact that he once noticed that his guest slippers were too big for her and wishful thinking on his part. He liked to have something in his home that was 'Kyoko's'. She was a very tidy person and had never forgotten anything in his home.

"I'm getting a free meal out of it. I should thank you not the other way around." He laughed as he brought the food into the kitchen. "What can I help you with?" Kyoko stared at him like a deer caught in headlight and obviously was searching for a polite way to reject his offer. "Don't worry, I don't want to cook. I only asked if you need anything." Her face relaxed into a smile.

"Thank you. I would appreciate it if you could give me the pressure cooker, masher, grater and a wok please." She already turned around and sorted through the food she brought. It took him embarrassing long to find all those items in his kitchen and for one he needed a pointer from Kyoko. But the fact that his crush knew her way around his home so well, at least his kitchen (on the rest he still have to work on) filled him with happiness.

It was a relaxed meal and they talked about the audition a little bit. The TV was running in the background.

"So that's why you wanted to learn how to dance?" Ren watched her blush and shyly nod. "Will you let me watch the video? I mean it is for this audition, right? So I'm probably going to see you dance anyway and now I could give you tips to improve." It was a good reason, a very sempai-like reason, but honestly he had been curious about it the whole day. At his suggestion she turned white and her eyes grew big, before mumble in a low voice.

"Can't"

His ears peeked at this. "Can't or don't want to?" He pressed her on it.

"I made Chiori-san deleted it." She shut her eyes close as she expected an explosion from him. What exactly did she think of him? Before he could depress himself with those thoughts, a playful up beating song started to play on the TV, that putted a new, better idea in his head.

"Then show me." With an astute grin he stood up and offered her his hand.

"What?" Kyoko looked at him as if he had lost is mind.

"Dance with me, now." He was nervous that she would turn him down, but backing away now would be even stranger than to go for it. "Show me how you dance."

She turned bright red and stumbled: "But just like this? There is nobody else, like in the club or…"

"At the audition you will have to do the same, maybe even without music." She looked at him as if this idea had never ever crossed her mind before. He offered his hand once more and raised his eyebrow with a smirk. "Hm?"

She stared at him mesmerized and finally placed her hand in his. With one smooth tug Ren pulled her to her feet and against his chest.

"If I may have this dance with you, my lady?", he teased her with boyish excitement on in his voice.

A smile sneaked over her face and she let him take both of her hands in his. It was awkward at first to dance alone and they only swayed back and forth at arm length, but with a bit time they both relaxed a bit more and started to move they shoulders and hips with the rhythm. They still kept their distance, but smiled and playfully pulled silly faces at each other. It wasn't the same way of dancing Ren had seen in the video. It was better. Kyoko smiled and laughed with him and that alone was what made it better for him in a long run. He sent her twisting around and with the last tones pulled her back to him, with her back against his chest, her arms crossed in front of her and still holding his hands at the side of her hips. They were both breathing heavily and with each breath he felt her back against his chest. He should let her go, but couldn't bring himself to end the contact. Amazingly she didn't try to step away from him either. A peek down showed her slightly blushed face that was turned up to him. Their eyes locked and electric shocks were running through his body.

"KAWAI! In the new flavors raspberry-wasabi and spinach-cherry. KAWAI! KAWAI! KAWAI!" A commercial boomed loudly out of his TV, flashing in bright colors around. It was enough to start both of them and they stepped away from each others in embarrassment.

"I will wash the dishes." Kyoko hurried to collect their plates, trying to hide her blush, but Ren saw it quite clearly. For a moment he entertained the thought of spinning her around and kissing her, but he wasn't ready to take that risk.

"Let me help you with this." He picked some of the other dishes up.

"You don't have to."

"But I want to help and I'm fairly sure I can't lethal poison us by doing the dishes." He winked at her playfully.

The rest of the evening was pleasant, but uneventful. In the end he convinced her to sleep in the guestroom, because he refused to drive with alcohol in his blood and she wouldn't let him pay for a taxi. It was thrilling on its own that it took less time to convince her than he had thought. The next day he dropped her off at home in morning and the good mood of waking up to Kyoko preparing breakfast in his kitchen stayed the whole day. Not even Yashiro's teasing could change that.

The next week went by in a blink of an eye. He couldn't remember anything specific about the shoots he had done in that time. What he could remember was the next part of the audition for _Secret Gambit_. He waited in a room together with Michika Kawagoe, a young and pretty actress, who would play the lead with him. They agreed to have a chemistry test with the actresses for Yuuka, to complete their little love triangle. Ren crossed his arms in front of him, to prevent himself from impatiently drumming his fingers on the table, but they were still twiching. This whole thing should have started half an hour ago. Ren wasn't used to be left waiting and Kawagoe's chattering on the phone started to annoy him. He could do so many useful things in this time like reading the script for another drama, which he left in the car or even better spend this wasted time with Kyoko, who was waiting in the next room. While he would always be annoyed when left waiting, it wasn't normally in his nature to fell so restless about it. Ren blamed Kyoko for that; having her so close by without actual being with her was _uncomfortable_. Yashiro raised an eyebrow at him, as Ren shifted in his seat once more. The young actor took a few claiming deep breaths and summoned up his cool and professional demeanor. The door finally opened and the director and producer stepped in. They didn't look apologetic at all; contrary they looked very pleased with themselves. Yashiro cleared his throat and stared them down with a pointy look. It at least made them realized they made them wait longer than polite.

"Tsuruga-san, Michika-san we are sorry for your wait. We had an important last minute telephone conference." Director Fukuda apologized but he had a nervous glow about him that made it clear that he wanted them to ask them what it was about. Ren didn't felt like hearing excuses and just waited if the director would actual remember why they were here. But his co-star took pity on him after she ended her phone call.

"What was it about?"

"We just got a call from _Takahashi-sama's_ office. They are very interested in our movie and want to be a guest at our final audition meeting. They would like to work with us on this. We hope that you two would return for that meeting as well." Ren had to admit, he was impressed. The name Takahashi while one of the most used in Japan, had a special weight in show business. People said the name like a breathless prayer. In the entertainment industry in Japan, there were lots of huge flashy names and characters and they had different degree of power to their names. But there were a few names that weight like black holes in the gravity field of influence. Takahashi was one of those names; one of the Big Five. 95% of all media outlets and studios and filming companies were divided between those persons and families. It made sense to impress them with all the star power of their project. Out of the corner of his eyes, Ren saw Yashiro sitting up straighter than before. It didn't really matter when this meeting was. If Takahashi wanted to see you, you were there. No question.

"We will take care of the scheduling with your managers. Now we have some lovely ladies to meet, right?" The director leaded them out of the small meeting room into a bigger room with a small stage in it. "We will invite one girl after another and you two will have some short improvisation skips with them. We want to see how you interact with them and how natural you apart together."

It was easy enough and they started the audition. One girl after another was called in. Some of them were actresses he worked with before. Aya Tashi and Rin Myukage were both good, but probably to similar in their image and expressions to Michika to really have a chance. You don't want to make a movie, in which the people wouldn't be able to distinguish between two of the main characters. Most were ok but not more. A few tried to build a chemistry with him a bit too hard for his liking. Their overly eager way of touching him made him uncomfortable. One even tried to slight up her hand a bit too far up his thigh for his taste. There were a few that were really good; one of them was Kotonami. She listened carefully when the director explained her impro scene to her. They wanted her to get his attention while he was concentrating on some work and flirt with him

While she listened she didn't pay him any attention, which made the instant switch when she started to act much more noticeable. Ren had to smile. She was good and knew how to impress those around her. Her body language became softer and less aloof. He himself pretended to read some papers.

"Why don't we do something together today? You work all the time." She walked behind him, while let her hand tail over his shoulders, caring his neck while doing it. The soft contact made him shudder for a short moment.

He shrugged her hand off. "Not right now. This is important."

She stepped around to his side, looking at his papers. Her hands were clapped in front of her and with a straight back she leaned over. "What are you reading?" He looked up and saw her biting her lips.

"Some reports for work." He fixed her with an intense look. Why did she catch his attention so much? He found it in a strange way cute. He only ever thought that about Kyoko.

"And they can't wait? We haven't been able to spend any time together for the whole week." She looked at him from under her eyelashes. Her legs were closed and more formal than normal. A strange choice for flirting. A blush dusted her cheeks.

He lowered his papers. "And what do you want to do?" His mind was racing. Why was he reacting to her acting so strongly?

"Have you even eaten yet? It's important to eat some good meals, if you want to stay fit." She straighter up and leaned her head to the side and smiled brightly at him. "There is a park nearby or we could go out and eat ice cream or both!" Her excitement shone in her eyes.

"Ok." It hit him like a punch. Kyoko, she was mimicking Kyoko to get his interest. The way she moved and talked. That was all Kyoko. How did she know?

"And cut."The director called. "Ok that was great. Really a fantastic chemistry you two have there." He looked really excited. "We will be in contact with each others." She thanked them all and left the room.

Ren couldn't help but feel used or was he angry that Kyoko was used in this way. He felt his stomach tighten. If Kyoko's best friend knew about his feeling, did that mean she knew as well? Part of him wanted to go after Kotonami to ask her about it, but the audition wasn't over yet. The next and last contestant would be Kyoko.

When the door opened again his heart speeded up when she stepped in. She greeted them with a formal bow. She wore a cute rose shirt and tight black jeans. It made her legs look even longer. A long necklace swung back and forth. It was a golden star, filled with a glass stone. It sparked against her chest when she straightened up again.

"Hello Mogami-san, we want you to show us if you can seduce a man. We want to see this need in his eyes." Director Fukudo explained to Kyoko and gestured to Ren. "Can you make us believe that he wants you and you want nothing more than being wanted by him?"

She listened attentive to him, before asking some questions about their scene. "Where are we and what relationship do we have before this scene?" Then her eyes widened and she hastily added. "I mean our characters!"

Ren had to smile at her embarrassment, but he could see that she was nervous. It wasn't obvious, but he knew her well enough to see the stiffness in her posture. But her attention was on the director as he started to talk.

"A lot is up to you two. How about this as a start? You're know each other for some time, are friends or something and you want to change that to something more." The director pointed at Kyoko, who listened with concentration to his every word. From time to time she looked to Ren and shifted her body slightly with what she heard. "Maybe you are out together or meet by chance it's up to you. Just a few minutes, nothing too long. Have fun."

"Of course." Ren felt her eyes on him as she agreed. She was looking him up and down, before turning to him full on. "Tsuruga-san, please take care of me." She bowed to him again and asked him to sit down. She bit her bottom lip for a moment as she looked him over. There was something calculating in her eyes, before she closed them. Her stance shifted into a more relaxed body language. Something of Natsu was blending in, but only slightly. Her face twitched for a moment through different emotions, as if she had to decide on one to use. It was adorable and fascinating.

Finally she opened her eyes again and her face morphed into a look of pleased surprise. "Ken-kun." So his characters name for now was Ken, he had to smile at how close it was to Ren. Was that her intention? "What are you doing here?" She stepped closer to him with a wide smile. "I haven't seen you since high school! Since when do you go out in clubs?" Gone was the formal Kyoko and in her place stood a confident young woman, who met an old school friend. She tilted her head to the side and mustered him.

"Kiyoko-chan." If she can nearly call him by his name, he could do it as well. "It is great to see you again. I met with some old friends, but it seems like I lost them. Would you like to sit down?" He smiled at her as he offered her the chair next to him.

"I'd love to." She sat down and crossed her legs before turning to him. Their knees were touching just slightly. "You finally cut your hair." She declared and reached out to the tips of his hair. Her hand brushed his ear and sent some shivers down his spine.

"Y-yes." He hadn't intended to stutter, but as he did her eyes twinkled some more and when she let go of his hair she cares his jaw with a feather light touch.

"It suits you very well." Her smile made it difficult to act.

"Thank you." He had to get a grip on himself. She wants to play? He will play. "You look great yourself." He let his eyes shamelessly wander over her body as he did very few times and not nearly as often as he wanted. A small blush that she immediately fought back down appeared on her cheeks and made her look even more adorable.

"Why, thank you." She smoothed out her shirt and Ren's eyes followed her delicate hands down her body, before snapping back up to her face. She tilted her head to the side and watched him for a moment, before she leaned closer to him. One of her hands landed on his thigh and he instinctively flexed his muscle under her hand. It wasn't an aggressive invasion in his personal space (not that she could ever invade his space, because she was always invited), but it felt like very natural in the conversation. "You know Ken-kun, I- I always l-liked you a lot." Now she couldn't hide the deep red blush that dusted her cheeks. Her thumb moved a little bit and caressed the side of his leg. Her eyes widened and she looked shocked for a moment, be it by her own bravo or his reaction to her, he couldn't tell. "I mean, back in high school." She backed away from him again and he immediately missed her warm hand on his leg.

"Kiyoko." He mumbled. At least he hoped that, that was the name he mumbled, he wasn't so sure himself. Ren couldn't let her leave like this. He followed Kyoko's movement and one of his hands landed on her shoulder, caressing her with the back of his fingers before wandering up and scooping her chin gently up. Her big golden eyes fixed on his. He leaned closer and-

"C-cut!" The voice of the casting director cut the tension between them. Kyoko's face turned even redder and she shifted away from him to stand up and bow to the director and producer. "That was- wow. I mean- You two were so intense!" Ren noticed that the others in the room were blushing as well. "That was one of the best chemistries I have ever seen." He was blabbering on for some time, but Ren was only listening with half an ear. He was far too busy watching Kyoko, who tried to hide her lobster red face behind her hair, but from time to time she peeked up and looked at him. When she saw him watching her as well she looked away fast. "We will defiantly contact you for the next casting round, thank you very much Mogami-san."

"Thank you." She bowed once more and nearly fled the room again and Ren couldn't help but feel disappointed, but professionalism required him to keep his cool before he could finally leave.

Later that night he called Kyoko to congratulate her on her performance and to just talk to her for a little bit. Dread built up in his stomach as her phone kept ringing without her picking up. Was she avoiding him? Did he go too far? Did she realized that the desire he showed was all for her and now she was afraid of him? Should he apologize? Finally the ringing stopped only for the mailbox to answer the call. For a moment he just thought to hang up, but decided to leave her a short message.

"Hello, Mogami-san. It's me, Ren Tsuruga. I just wanted to tell you that you did great today. I hope, we can work together on this project. So, bye and have a nice evening." He hung up before he could make an even bigger fool out of himself. Did he sound creepy or pushy?

But before he could ponder on those thoughts some more, his phone started ringing. He picked up as fast as he could. "Yes?"

"Tsuruga-san?" Kyoko's lovely voice reached his ears. She sounded slightly breathless. "I hope I don't disturb you. I was taking a shower when I heard the phone, but it already went to the mailbox before I could answer. It only said 'unknown number' and most of the time that is you and I wanted to call back right away, but then I was afraid that it was that jerk Sho. He somehow always gets my number, not that I would ever call him back, but if it wasn't you I didn't want to disturb your evening, but then I heard your voice message and thought that it would be ok to call." She rambled all this down incredible fast and a huge smile stretched on his face. He relaxed into his couch and listened to her voice. "I didn't disturb, right?"

"No you didn't." He assured her. "Don't worry."

They talked some more about some chit-chat, before she couldn't suppress her yawns anymore and they said their goodnights for the evening.

* * *

AN:

Disclaimer: I don't own Skip Beat and don't earn money with it.

Please leave a review to motivate me and to improve myself.


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